The students were anxious for a long weekend this entire week. I used this week as a week of review. With the regular math class the students took a few days to review their geometric formulas, like: area, perimeter, and angle measure. They created a geometric flower with a guided sheet. They spent the last day doing some fun easter math worksheets reinforcing mathematical thinking. With honors they spent the week on a factoring packet. Factoring seems to be a difficult topic with many of the students. They did a whole chapter on factoring earlier in the year, but many of the skills they forgot or needed to be refreshed. They took a "factoring again" quiz on Thursday, which most of the students did really well on.
Last week I set two goals. The first was to go visit some other math classrooms. Due to the project I had my students doing, I did not get that chance. But I did set up a time to go visit another math classroom at a different school after my graduation. One of my childhood friends is a teacher in Crest Hill and I will be going to visit her on Tuesday, May 17th to watch how she runs her math and science classrooms at the 5th grade level. My second goal was to work on my action research. I did make some good headway this week on my action research project. I finished putting together my data and started writing my paper. I will continue to work on it this week.
This week I would like to set another goal for myself regarding the rest of my student teaching placement. I would like to be able to transition smoothly back to my cooperating teacher regaining full control of the classroom again. This week she will be taking the honor's class back while I work just with the regular class.
A great teacher is a reflective teacher. I've noticed how important it is during this placement for teachers to be reflective on each lesson they present to each class. During this placement I teach three of one class and two of another. It was nice to be able to tweak my lesson plans and reflect on how they went to improve them or change activities that would better fit with different classroom make-ups. Some days do not go as planned and it integral to be able to reflect and figure out why they didn't go as planned and if it was okay that they didn't go as planned. A teacher that is reflective shows and proves that they are a good teacher and able to fix lessons so that they are as most effective as possible. Sometimes after doing activity and can mentally note that it was excellent or that it was not effective.
As an example of a reflective moment in my placement, I think back to my lesson on surface area with the regular math students. I taught the lesson just as I had planned it and thought it would work well and that the students would have no problem. After the first class period I knew I was having troubles, when I had the students start working on some problems on their own. No one seemed to understand how surface area changed with each shape and were very confused when there were multiple steps, especially using the Pythagorean Theorem as one of those steps. I immediately knew the lesson had to go out the window and that something else had to be done. So I found as many visual aides as I possibly could around the classroom and decided to ask the paraprofessional and my cooperating teacher for help. This way we could split up the students into small groups and work with a ten or so students at a time and really try to work one-on-one with them in a small group setting. This was much more effective and the students were able to grasp the concept and learn more from that experience.
I must admit working with students with severe special needs is not a strong point for me. I have never been in a classroom yet with full inclusion. I have always been at schools where the severe students with special needs are in their own classrooms. I have been able to work with students with minor LD and BD issues and have no problems finding ways to let them move, or work with partners, or make sure they are included in class participation. I have been able to work closely with the paraprofessional on my team and she has been wonderful in showing/telling/explaining to me the special things that I can do to make learning most effective for these students. I also have the luxury of her having them one period of the day to reinforce the mathematical topics they need extra help with. I have helped create adapted tests for some LD students and understand the basics behind teaching students with minor LD and BD issues.
I have been able to share some fun new classroom group activities to check for understanding in my student teaching placement. Things like inside/outside circle, rally coach, and 4 Down. All activities that student work is small groups or with partners to practice the skills taught to them. It is also a good way for the teacher to be able to move around and see first hand the understanding the students have of the topic. I also have been able to share my knowledge with the new common core standards. The school still used the old standards and have not switched yet. I have been able to show how to use the standards and where to gain all its information.
Tammi, I'm glad you see the importance of reflection. You may have thought somewhere along the line that Trinity requires an awful lot of reflection, but hopefully now you can see the benefit and why it's so much a part of the education program.
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